Additional testing of the air underneath two Franklin schools showed little to no levels of volatile organic compounds with the start of school this week.
The testing was the second round at Needham and Webb elementary schools, which are both near the former Amphenol facility in Franklin where residents have raised concerns about contaminants. The first round of testing also showed little to no levels of the volatile organic compounds PCE and TCE, which can have harmful health impacts.
School officials decided to do the testing due to concerns raised in the community about the safety of the schools after testing done by another group found PCE and TCE in the air in some homes in Franklin and near the former Amphenol facility, which is down the road from both schools.
In addition, Franklin College is also doing its own testing on the campus, though results are not yet available.
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Franklin school officials had hired an environmental engineering firm that did research in the area, but was unable to get some documents quickly. In order to ease concerns, school officials decided to do their own testing of the two school properties.
After the first test, which took air samples and sampled the air underground, low levels were found in some areas and school officials decided to do more testing out of an abundance of caution, officials said at the time. That testing was not required based on the initial amounts, which were significantly lower than the maximum allowed by both residential and commercial standards, but officials wanted to try to address community concerns.
The most recent testing bored into the slab under the buildings to collect additional samples.
In the second round of testing, 13 of 17 samples came back not detecting any TCE and the four samples that did show some levels were below the maximum amount allowed for both residential and commercial standards, according to the results. The highest level found was 54.5 micrograms per cubic meter, and the maximum allowed under residential standards is 70, the report said.
And for PCE, seven of the 17 samples did not detect any, and the other samples were significantly below the levels allowed for both residential and commercial buildings. The highest level found was 121 micrograms per cubic meter, and the maximum is 1,400 for a residential property, the report said.
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Here is a look at recent sampling done at Franklin schools to look for volatile organic compounds:
PCE
Residential maximum;1,400 micrograms per cubic meter
Commercial maximum;6,000 micrograms per cubic meter
Needham Elementary School;0 – 121 micrograms per cubic meter
Webb Elementary School;0 – 12.9 micrograms per cubic meter
TCE
Residential maximum;70 micrograms per cubic meter
Commercial maximum;290 micrograms per cubic meter
Needham Elementary School;0
Webb Elementary School;0 – 54.5 micrograms per cubic meter
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